African immigrants self-employment journey: navigating contextual challenges in South Africa

Justice Muchineripi, Willie Chinyamurindi and Tendai Chimucheka

Journal of Global Mobility, 2022, vol. 10, issue 4, 530-544

Abstract: Purpose - The study explores experiences of African immigrants in their self-employment journey. South Africa has been receiving many African immigrants seeking for socio-economic survival. This presents a gap to understand the self-employment journey of such immigrants post-settlement. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative inquiry is used with semi-structured interviews using a sample of African immigrants based in South Africa. Narrative enquiry was utilised in trying to understand the African immigrant self-employment journey. Findings - The findings show strategies used by African immigrant entrepreneurs in their self-employment journey. These include immigrant relying on established relationships to respond to contextual challenges. Further, immigrant entrepreneurs turned to borrowing from family, including personal savings and using fronts as a capital generation strategy. Originality/value - Based on the findings strategies are suggested as a useful precursor in advancing understanding of the African immigrant self-employment journey. This becomes useful especially considering ideals for assisting post-settlement of migrants.

Keywords: Immigrants; Challenges; Self-employment; South Africa; Narratives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jgmpps:jgm-02-2022-0006

DOI: 10.1108/JGM-02-2022-0006

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